Tuesday, May 12, 2009

Finding Nemo

I've been dying to make the fish bento from Hawaii's Bento Box Cookbook.The author filled a fish-shaped bento box with plain white rice and used sliced jumbo black olives to form scales. How brilliant is that?

I wasn't able to find a fish-shaped bento box, but I did come across this rabbit-shaped bento box, and saw at once that the pink bunny was perfect for Summershmoo and the shape was close enough to a fish to get the job done.

Unfortunately, I was told by her mom that Summershmoo does not like plain rice or olives, so what was I to do? I decided to change the plain rice into a serving of Vegan Glorified Rice, a sweet rice pudding filled with crushed pineapple and silken tofu. Once again I used fruit leather to make the cut-outs.

In the upper tier of the bento box I put two vegan sausages, some baby carrots, sugar snap peas, cauliflower florets, and jicama hearts.

Verdict: Well, it will be back to peanut butter sammies next time! Even as a sweet pudding Summer did not want to eat rice. It must be the texture she dislikes? She did, however, pick off the fruit leather and eat all the vegetables. She took one bite of the sausage. 5 star cuteness, 2 star consumption.

omg. I just put two and two together when someone posted about the tat in your VT magazine photo. GREAT artwork.

My original reason for posting - if Summershmoo is rice adverse due to the texture, why not just run it through the blender with the tofu? (this was my Mom's secret to raising a child with food texture issues....)

Has anyone tried offering her unflavored sushi style rice - the kind that seems to stick together when cooked? My 4 yr old loves that kind and thinks it's cool to eat with chopsticks (he has a training pain with a dolphin at the top) or in shaped cakes. The bento you made is making me hungry!!! Summershmoo is so lucky to have you an aunt!

Have you ever come across this site? http://www.e-obento.com/mainichi-Frame-set.htm

It is not in English, apart from the dates, but full of wonderfully imaginative bento art (I adore the rice kitten on the March 23rd 2006 page). - beware lots of pics of raw fish and meat - but well worth wadeing through them for the fab ideas!

As a former rice hater myself (and vegetarian for 16 years now!) I can empathize with Ms. Summerschmoo. I always hated the dry, slightly gummy flavor and texture. To this day, I refuse rice cooked by my family and I think rice pudding is the most disgusting thing known to man. (I'll spare you my childhood idea of what it was.) There was no hope for redemption.

The turning point? My now-husband (when he was first my boyfriend) made me brown rice in a simmered stovetop style. I was already hooked on plain sushi, so I tried a sushi roll and found I like the sushi rice texture. (I could pick it up with chopsticks).

As they say, "All you need is love". I'll eat my sweetie's rice any day of the week- red, brown, black, forbidden, wild, you name it.

My middle daughter cannot gag down rice in any form. She's 15 and not putting me on, it's always been like that. She actually WANTS to like it but cannot get past the texture. She can't do other cooked, fluffy grains, couscous or quinoa (which I guess is a grain too) either. Interesting.

Can I just say I'm thrilled to find your blog! Both of my sons have been diagnosed with a significant number of food allergies including wheat, dairy, pork, and beef. One son in particular is allergic to almost everything. I have been searching for new recipes for them and I'm LOVING everything I see on your blog. Thank you so much!

Wow! I wish I had seen your blog back in 2003-2005 when I was making my kids vegan lunches! What a wonderful blog! I recently discovered bento boxes... I wish I'd found them earlier. I mean, I was creative, but it woulda been a little easier! Thanks for being available now! I can make these for myself! Keep it up!

I just want to say that I love your blog! As a conscious omnivore, who eats vegan/vegetarian much for the time, I have a really hard time finding blogs for recipes where everyone seems to be respected. You keep me coming back again and again!